The city stadium was packed with people and City fans packed the stands.
This is Manchester City''s first time to participate in the Champions League in recent decades. Not many fans watched the last Champions League match at home, and most of them are old.
Before the match, the club specially organized an activity to find the witness of the last Champions League home match. The youngest is a middle-aged man in his fifties. It is said that he was a child at that time and was taken to the Maine Road stadium by his parents.
It is also the long cherished wish of numerous Manchester City fans for many years to participate in a Champions League match at their home.
So tonight, coming to the city stadium, everyone of them is very excited, very excited.
They firmly believe that the cold team will not let them down.
Here tonight, Manchester City will usher in a historic victory!
Manchester City did their best in this match. Many people thought that Gao Han would play as a four back in the Champions League, but in fact, Gao Han did not adjust and still insisted on a three four three formation.
The goalkeeper is Cech, the defensive line is kompani, Harvey Martinez and Mascherano, the midfield is Harvey Alonso, David Silva and Modric are in the middle, Kaka is in front, and the front Trident is Cristiano Ronaldo, Benzema and Sanchez.
This is Manchester City''s main team in the past two seasons, and it is also the strongest attack formation that the team can arrange at present.
Cristiano Ronaldo, in particular, is in a very good condition for scoring goals this season.
Real Madrid are away from Manchester City and their strength is a little behind them. In addition, what he is good at is defending and counterattacking, so they are in a four three one two formation.
The goalkeeper is Casillas, the captain of Real Madrid, with Kolarov, Bruno Alves, Albiol and aveloa in the back line from left to right, Sneijder, Gago and RAS Diarra in the midfield, and Ozil in front, Diego Costa and Higuain as the double forwards.
So far this season, this is the strongest line-up that Jose can line up, and the midfield is the weakness of Real Madrid, especially in the midfield.
Real Madrid originally considered to replace Sneijder with Fabregas or Gerrard from Arsenal in the summer. The Dutch midfield had been on the transfer market for a time. However, with the excellent performance in the world cup and the unsuccessful introduction of Fabregas and Gerrard, Real Madrid left Sneijder.
Gargo was not the main force of Real Madrid at the back of the midfield, and the local international de la red was the core of the midfield that everyone had high hopes for. But last season, de la red was detected to have heart problems and had to retire early, which led to Gargo being supported in the upper position. His performance has always been mixed.
However, it is clear that Jose is also psychologically prepared for this.
After the start of the game, Real Madrid kept the whole formation very tight, with three tight lines. At the same time, they retreated to the front of their own restricted area and showed a very low attitude. Obviously, they wanted to fight back.
In contrast, Manchester City, in the end is in their home, after the opening initiative to attack.
Just one minute after the start of the game, David Silva was on the left side of the cross. Benzema failed to get the ball under the left and right attack of Bruno Alves and Albiol. As a result, David Silva''s pass was easily obtained by Casillas.
Four minutes later, Kaka broke through to the front of the penalty area with the ball in the middle, and was closely watched by Las Diarra. After falling to the ground, the referee didn''t whistle to signal that the game would continue, but the ball was still at the foot of Manchester City. Cristiano Ronaldo''s long-range shot from 25 meters failed to hold the ball down and went up.
Two successive attacks failed to work. Xavi Alonso and Modric began to stabilize the rhythm of the team. Instead of rushing to attack, they patiently passed the ball backwards in the middle and back court, looking for opportunities.
Real Madrid also seems to have psychological preparation for this, not eager to grab the ball, but to keep the whole formation compact and tight.
But once the ball reaches the front court and Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Sanchez and Benzema are at their feet, Real Madrid will at least immediately organize two defenders to close up, and they are very organized. One is close down, and the other is cooperative defense, so as to avoid the defensive situation of playing alone.
Obviously, Jose is very clear that one-on-one, Real Madrid have no advantage at all.
It is this very tight defensive formation with three layers inside and three layers outside that makes it very difficult for Manchester City to effectively send the ball into the range although they hold the ball.
Even if it''s a rare chance, it''s hard for players to get a good opportunity.
As always, Jose''s team has strict tactical discipline and excellent physical strength. What''s more, there are a lot of small moves, whether it''s forward Diego Costa or centre back Bruno Alves.
This made Manchester City play two shots at the beginning, and even in the following ten minutes, although they controlled the ball, they never made a threat and did not shoot again, which showed that Real Madrid''s defense was tight.
Until the 17th minute, Real Madrid finally made a mistake.
Portuguese centre back Bruno Alves didn''t pass the ball far. After Xavi Alonso headed the ball back to midfield, David Silva picked the ball behind the defense line. Benzema made a successful anti offside move to the left side of the penalty area. After receiving the ball, he went back to the penalty area from the bottom line.
Cristiano Ronaldo got rid of aveloa''s entanglement, went into the penalty area and calmly pushed the ball into Casillas'' goal, which made the whole city stadium completely into a carnival.
The referee''s whistle sounded, but it didn''t mean that the goal was valid, but that Cristiano Ronaldo was ahead of the foul.
"The referee''s decision seems to have caused a lot of controversy, the city stadium stands booed
"Both captains have come forward to negotiate, the referee seems to signal Cristiano Ronaldo in the start, there is a foul action on aveloa
"Let''s see the slow motion replay of the game, Cristiano Ronaldo starts..."
"Ah, it''s here. It seems that when he broke away from the defense of aveloa, his hand touched aveloa''s body, and aveloa fell to the ground. The chief referee should have pushed a foul when the Portuguese started."
"Let''s look at it from another angle."
"It''s true that the hand really touched avelloa''s shoulder, but it seemed that he just broke away and didn''t exert any force. Avelloa was suspected of cheating the referee this time, but the referee seemed to believe that Cristiano Ronaldo was in front of the foul, so the goal was invalid."
"Manchester City are very dissatisfied with this
"But we have to say that the game has just started and city need to calm down now
"In the professional league, both sides have to do everything to win the game, which is very common."
"Well, we saw the two teams back in the game and the referee gave Real Madrid a set piece
But Cristiano Ronaldo was very dissatisfied with his punishment. Three minutes later, when he entered the penalty area from the left side to fight for the header with Albiol, he was once again fouled by the referee. In a fury, he kicked the ball directly to the stands.
This not calm move also brought him a yellow card.
Alpine watch on the sidelines, but also directly jumped up.
…………
…………
"Hey, Cristiano, are you crazy?"
Alpine in the field very puzzling toward the field to drink asked.
"Is it fun to run for a yellow card for no reason?"
Portuguese people know that they are wrong. They bow their heads and dare not look at each other, let alone talk back.
"Calm down and think with your head, understand?"
Cristiano Ronaldo nodded to show that he understood.
Gao Han turned around and walked back to the coach''s seat. After standing still, he heard Sergio Garcia sneer.
"It''s been more than ten minutes since the beginning of the game. There''s not even one shot. The ball control rate has been reduced to the limit, which is less than 30%. You say he..."
"He''s trying to contain our possession Sighed Brian Kidd.
"If the defensive area is expanded, the physical fitness in the first half is estimated to be able to sustain, but in the second half, he will have to disarm, so he simply did some extreme, reduced the defensive area to 30 meters, kept the three lines compact, reduced the players'' running range, once our attack entered, immediately took high-pressure pressing, so that we can not create a threat."
This set of tactics had been considered in the Spanish League, but later it was said that President Florentino felt that the use of three back midfield was too conservative and not in line with the identity of Real Madrid. As a result, he lost 0-5 at the Nou Camp stadium, leading to a disastrous defeat away from home. Until now, he took it out against Manchester City.
Alpine cold is also a big sight on the sidelines. The most difficult thing to crack in the world is the iron bucket formation, especially for the iron bucket formation trained by the good defensive and tactical discipline of Jose Mourinho, which is a nightmare for all teams.
"It''s not that there''s no chance at all." Gao Han said after pondering for a while.
"Then it''s going to be a strong attack." Brian Kidd suggested.
"As the saying goes, no matter how tight Real Madrid''s defense is, as long as we continue to exert pressure, they will show their flaws, but we should be on guard against their counterattack."
Alpine will focus on Diego Costa and Higuain two strikers, the two players in the counterattack can be quite large, especially Diego Costa, if Real Madrid seize the opportunity to counterattack, with the efficiency of Jose, then Manchester City is really dangerous.
As a result, Gao cold quickly conveyed his ideas to the pitch, making it clear to all Manchester City players that the coach wants them to continue to maintain the offensive pressure on Real Madrid, but at the same time, they should be wary of the other side''s counterattack.
There are Xabi Alonso, Modric, David Silva, and even Kaka. The advantage of such players on the court is obvious, that is, if Gao Han has any ideas to convey to them, these players can quickly put them into practice.
Especially Xabi Alonso and Modric, the two players firmly help city control the midfield and the rhythm of the game, organize and plan waves of attack.
But Real Madrid are also monolithic, defending very closely, every player in the game is very focused, very active running, so that Manchester City''s attack again and again failed.
It was as if he had built an iron wall in front of the goal of Real Madrid.
Make cold almost doubt, is the combination of iron and Steel Wall card effect reaction in Real Madrid?